Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal says he put on 20 extra pounds during the end of last season — and it had nothing to do with adding muscle for the postseason.
Beal told The Washington Post that the late-season pounds can be attributed to sympathy weight gained while his girlfriend was pregnant with the couple’s first child.
“Yes, I struggled with that last year at the end of the year,” said Beal, the father of son Bradley Beal II.
“Oh, pizza. It was always late-night pizza for me,” Beal said. “It was just pizza and ice cream. That’s all we ate — pizza and ice cream, pizza and ice cream.”
The weight gain didn’t impact Beal’s season as he averaged 22.6 points and career highs in rebounds (4.4) and assists (4.5) per game, while playing in all 88 of the team’s regular-season and postseason games. Beal also made named to his first All-Star team and helped keep the Wizards afloat while point guard John Wall was sidelined due to injury.
Beal, 25, has since shed the extra weight as he prepares for his seventh season in the NBA, which opens Thursday against Miami.